Cable Cars

The front page of your Aug. 18 edition shows a picture of a couple of cable cars creeping up and down Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. I can hazard a guess as to why they are creeping, and that is because there are no cable car tracks on Van Ness Avenue. The scene shown is actually cable cars on Hyde Street. BRUCE G. BAILEY Anaheim

Times reporter Christopher Reynolds and photographer Mark Boster spent a chunk of 2013 creating “Postcards From the West,” a series of stories, photos and videos exploring seven Western icons, including Yosemite's Half Dome, the Lone Cypress of Pebble Beach, the cable cars of San Francisco and the San Diego Zoo. Rough duty, we know. But for our readers, nothing is too much. Our guys were able to alleviate the stress of the " Postcards From the West " series by throwing together a little video revealing their fact-finding methods on the road.

Swarms of hums, buzzes and jingles emitted by the new cables that move San Francisco's cable cars are creating such a racket that the city has plunked down $125,000 to find out what all the noise is about. Never really quiet, the rolling mutter of old has turned into a kind of low-frequency series of whacks, described by engineers as comparable to "a hammer blow at 120 times a second."

San Francisco wants to spread the love on Valentine's Day. The city deemed "most romantic" on several travel surveys plans to bring some of its charm to L.A.'s Union Station with an entire train wrapped as a cable car - and even a bit of fog too. The deal: The train is really Amtrak's Coast Starlight that travels from L.A. to Seattle via San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Oakland and other cities. Through April 30, it will be covered with a scene of riders on a San Francisco cable car and views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower at each end. To hail the train's arrival, San Francisco Travel will host an event at Union Station with characters dressed as Snow White, star of a current exhibit at the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio; and the " Girl With the Pearl Earring," from the Vermeer painting on display at the De Young Museum . Free Ghirardelli chocolates will be handed out too. When: The event will be held 7 to 10 a.m. Thursday (today)

Three shiny new cable cars were officially inducted onto city streets Saturday as holiday shoppers and tourists crammed on the cars to be among the first to ride. The Powell Street cable car, No. 13, was packed as it cruised through Union Square at the trusty hands of senior gripman Steve Dickson. "It has a nice feel to it," said Dickson, a 25-year veteran of cable cars. He noted that the car had a higher ceiling and larger windows than some of the older models.

Handicapped protesters in wheelchairs chained themselves to a cable car Tuesday, blocking the tracks of San Francisco's No. 1 tourist attraction to underscore demands for better access to public transportation. "Try getting on one of those when you're in a wheelchair," one man shouted. There was no violence during the demonstration at the Powell Street cable car turntable.

The general manager of the San Francisco Municipal Railway said tests conducted in January raised doubts about the ability of cable car brakes to halt a fully loaded car on slick Hyde Street hill, where a cable car slammed into a truck Monday, injuring 31 people. Based on the tests, general manager William Stead said there was little chance the cable car could have stopped before the collision. In most circumstances, Stead said, "You can't stop on a wet day."

A cable car system that stalled and left dozens of people stranded above the East River for about 11 hours in April has reopened with upgrades including new motors, emergency provisions and even toilets. Experts have "gone over this thing with a fine-toothed comb," said Herb Berman, president of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. The tramway shuttles commuters and tourists between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.

A British woman died Sunday after a funicular railway passenger car she was riding in crashed here Saturday, local police said. The accident occurred when a cable that pulls the car along a track between the garrison city's historic lower town and its walled quarter atop a cliff snapped just as the car neared the end of its downward run. An emergency brake failed to stop the car, which sped out of control and smashed into the wall of a booth where passengers enter and exit the vehicle.

Friedel Klussmann, whose stubborn determination was credited with saving San Francisco's fabled cable cars, died peacefully Wednesday in her Telegraph Hill home at the age of 90. After learning in 1947 that buses were being tested as replacements for the cable cars, she formed a committee and quickly collected enough signatures to put a cable car preservation measure on the city ballot. The campaign attracted national attention.

Lyrics to Tony Bennett's song The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay The glory that was Rome is of another day I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan I'm going home to my city by the Bay I left my heart in San Francisco High on a hill, it calls to me To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care ...

The confetti that carpeted the parade route Wednesday morning was San Francisco Giants orange ? and so were the T-shirts and fright wigs, the hair dye and body paint, the lights on Coit Tower and City Hall and the tiny hearts stuck to Anna Goldberg's face. For the first time since the baseball team arrived on the West Coast 52 years ago, fans here had reason to really celebrate. And on Wednesday, they choked the Financial District and the Civic Center to cheer their beloved team's long-awaited World Series championship.

Man does not live by bread alone, and families can't count on theme parks for all their adventures. Here are 10 relatively unthemed Western destinations, all best enjoyed in the company of a 10-year-old: Cable cars, San Francisco: Of the three routes in operation, the classic Powell-Hyde Line begins at Powell and Market streets near Union Square, climbs Nob Hill, then descends dramatically to end at Aquatic Park, near Ghirardelli Square and...

May 2, 2010 | By Caitlin Fitzsimmons, Special to the Los Angeles Times

The green-and-gold tram trundled down the road, a small Australian flag hanging out the driver's window. I stared in amazement, momentarily forgetting my morning coffee. As it rumbled past, I could see the words "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia" emblazoned on the side. But I was half a world away at an outdoor cafe in San Francisco. I wasn't the only one excited. "Look, Daddy, it's a fashion train!" cried the little boy at the next table. I smiled; the term "fashion train" seemed apt. The other tram lines in San Francisco come in standard-issue silver and red. This line — the F — features historic streetcars from around the world in various shapes and colors.

San Francisco A free ride (almost) On a recent trip to San Francisco, we discovered a great way for oldsters (65-plus) to use public buses, cable cars etc. The Senior Pass goes for $10 a calendar month, with a three-day grace period into the next month. Cards are sold at some cable-car ticket booths and hotels. Muni, (415) 701-2311, www.sfmuni.com Owen Gillick Twentynine Palms -- Romania Guide to the past Our recent trip to Romania [above] was beyond our wildest expectations.

Arnold Stirewalt Gridley, 92, who converted his native city's fabled cable cars for use in movies, parades and commercials, died May 8 in San Francisco of kidney failure. After working in two family-owned businesses, a bar and a rice farm, the San Franciscan made his career in real estate. But in 1958 he bought some of the city's old California Street cable cars at an auction. His family looked askance, but Gridley quickly put them to good use.

Re "In L.A., Desire of Some Is Named Streetcar," Sept. 5 The main differences between the effective but confusing DASH bus system and a trolley are the legibility and fixity of the trolley line and the fun riding experience of being on a special vehicle rather than a utilitarian bus. Why not: Paint a continuous dotted line of circles, each about a foot in diameter, on the street with a big spot at each stop. Call it DOT -- Downtown Omnibus Transport. Use modern vehicles, with electric power and rubber tires.

A cable car system that stalled and left dozens of people stranded above the East River for about 11 hours in April has reopened with upgrades including new motors, emergency provisions and even toilets. Experts have "gone over this thing with a fine-toothed comb," said Herb Berman, president of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. The tramway shuttles commuters and tourists between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.